Sunday, Bloody Sunday

A few decades ago there was a U2 song titled Sunday, Bloody Sunday. It was about a protest in Northern Ireland where a bunch of people were shot. I think. Don’t risk your Jeopardy winnings on my knowledge of the meaning of U2 lyrics. Anyways, I had my very own Bloody Sunday two Sundays ago....

DISCLAIMER (again): if you don’t want to read about my girly parts, then avert your eyes and move along to another post. If vaginas don’t bother you, then carry on.

So it was a typical Sunday...except I had the flus. Yes, flus plural...I had Influenza A and B...again. (Eye roll). But symptoms were mild and I was on Tamiflu. Nevertheless, I didn’t go to church with Dan and the boys. I figured I should follow dr orders to keep my zip locked vagina from closing even more. So I used the dilator that I’d used before and never once had a problem. It’s not nearly as fun as you may imagine. Trust me. I did my 10 minutes of prescribed dilator use and was shocked to see a large amount of blood. Large isn’t the right word. Horrifying amount of blood. I called Dan and thankfully he was on the way home from church. He dropped the boys off at his parents and rushed home. By now I was feeling faint and leaving quite the mess. Looked like someone murdered someone in our bathroom. I called my gynecologist at Loyola (my specialist gyn). She never returned my call, but it may have been the answering services’ fault. Either way, when nobody called me after 30 min, I called my local (and awesome) gynecologist who said she would meet me at the local ER. So off we went. This was not yesterday, but the week prior and NW Indiana was having a minor snowstorm. Whiteout conditions. Dan always wanted to rush me to the hospital when I was pregnant but since all three boys were induced, he never got to. Well, now he was able to...in whiteout conditions none the less! Took us an hour to get there when it should only take 30 min. By that time I had bled through everything and made yet another mess. The ER receptionists said they were sending me to labor and delivery to meet my dr there. Ended up in pediatrics..but whatever. My Dr took one look and said she was getting an Operating Room ready. At that point I had lost enough blood that I was woozy and feeling pretty awful. Blood transfusions was mentioned but since I need special blood (irradiated) because of the transplant, there was a brief panic as everyone realized that the blood bank didn’t have this blood and it had to come from Fort Wayne. In a snow storm. 3 hours at least. My dr called the transplant department at Loyola and got the head of the department who wanted me to “just come to Loyola”. Clearly he didn’t understand that I was bleeding to death. Only halfway joking. He apparently also hadn’t noticed the snowstorm. (Eye roll again). So my very amazing dr said “no way, she cannot get there, you have to tell me what to do with her blood transfusion if needed”. After many more phone calls and a lot of head scratching, the blood blank realized that they DID have irradiated blood on hand for newborns. So I was saved! On to surgery. My gyn cauterized the artery that had ruptured when a vaginal adhesion tore from the use of the dilator. I was never in pain and had no idea anything tore. I never needed the blood transfusion. Spent one night in hospital and was sent home with low hemoglobin and a headache. Now, a week later, I’m feeling close to normal. I have a follow up with my dr in a week to figure out “now what”. The fun never ends!